Jim Nolan's Blog

QR Code Cartoon by Isabella Bannerman

You can actually scan the QR code in this cartoon by Six Chix Monday cartoonist (and my wife) Isabella Bannerman... 

Finding Love Cartoon by Isabella Bannerman

Yesterday's "Six Chix" cartoon by my wife Isabella Bannerman, syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It's so important for couples to listen to each other... 

Tali Paul Oil Painting: Forest (I think)

My absolute favorite painting by Tali Paul, my great aunt who grew up in Berlin and moved to Lidingö, Sweden in the 1930s. No photo can do it justice. My mother, Christa, had this painting as long as I can remember. It was painted in 1960. Click to enlarge.

Close-up for detail:

Here is the painting in situ, around 1963 or so. James Nolan, me, Chris Nolan, Christa Paul Nolan, Lisa Nolan. Dad appears to be wearing white bucks.

Wig Walker Cartoon by Isabella Bannerman

Today's Six Chix cartoon by my wife Isabella. They do kinda look like dogs, don't they?

Tali Paul Oil Painting

Here is a painting by my great aunt, Tali Paul, in oil. I also include a close-up for a look at the brush strokes. Tali lived in Lidingö, Sweden, and grew up in Berlin.

 

Vase Cartoon by Isabella Bannerman

A classic Bannerman Sunday Six Chix 'toon. Click to enlarge and see how beautifully drawn it is. 

Tali Paul, Painter

My grandfather Bengt's twin sisters, Tali and Hedda, were both artists (as was his brother, Holger). They were raised in Berlin, and were the daughters of Adolf Paul, a Swedish playwright, and Natalie Brehmer Paul.

This week I received a note from someone who actually met Tali, Pia Clark. Pia's aunt and uncle were neighbors of Tali's in Lidingö, a suburb of Stockholm. They lived on Frimurarevägen. 

Pia sent me a portrait of her grandmother, Carolina Elizabeth Liljedahl, that Tali drew. Usually, her paintings are thick with oil, but this one had a lighter feeling and was similar to a portrait Tali did of my mother, Christa Paul. I think they are both excellent. Here they are:

Carolina Elizabeth Liljedahl

Christa Paul Nolan

I never met Tali, but I did meet Hedda, who painted my portrait in 1975 in Rappestad, a little village outside Linköping. 

I ask Pia if she knew anything about Tali, and she reported back:

"The place they lived is called Bosön. They lived on the hill right by the water. The house had been converted into three apartments. My Uncle and Aunt lived in one, my Aunt’s brother lived in one and Tali lived in the third one.

 

"I was born in Sweden and I remember going there for parties. The grounds were so nice and then there was the water. This is where my Grandmother met her and Tali wanted to draw her. 

 

"I talked to my cousin (in Sweden) who also remembered Tali. She had a moped that she always rode around on and wore a leather cap with ear flaps. When I said she was bohemian, it was to say she was a little strange (eccentric)."

 

My cousin Veronica has written that Tali did not want to part with her best paintings, and was thus often at a loss for money. Hedda learned to teach art, and made a good living. I believe she lived in Säffle, after leaving Berlin in the 1930s. Natalie, her mother, joined her there after the war. Adolf died in 1943. 

 

I will try and find a photo of Tali. And I'll post some more of her incredible artwork. Also Hedda's.